A couple of tips...

Someone recently asked me how I melted the crayons, and well.......a picture is worth a thousand words!! I do want to tell you though that this takes patience!! I light the tea-light, then wait for it to totally turn to liquid before I add the crayon. Also, the more crayon you use, the harder it is for the candle to burn...they still burn, but you'll see they don't burn as well. And don't forget to stir it up!! Stir slow, or you'll make a mess! I use the crayon to stir it....just make sure you get rid of all the lumps!! Now, I am sure there is an easier way to do all this, but this is what I had on hand....so this is what I used. Also....you can use water in between steps to cool down the candle: however, I find doing this with this mini candles just takes longer....you actually have to stop and blot the candle, to remove the little bubble of water that collects at the bottom. (Thanks Cindy!! though for the suggestion.....my son had been telling me for days that I was doing it all wrong! But I like the slowness of the process, it's very relaxing!)


And now I have a mess, Haha!! This is what's left over from this weeks project. Hopefully tomorrow I can get out the griddle and rig something up to get the rest of that wax out of the bottom of those tea-lights. Wouldn't want to throw away anything that I can still use!!

OK....While I'm here I wanted to show you what I thought up of the other night. Well, I didn't think of it, but it came to me.....lol, You know what I talking about!! LOL....It was one of those Duh! moments!! It's so freakin' easy it hurts!!! So....I've been trying to figure out what to put in Cora's Fridge to fill it up....and then I saw the perfect solution the other night. I was watching late night cartoons with the bf, it was some clay animation show~ The PJs, I think.....when the Momma opened the fridge.....and I saw it........Leftovers!!!! How perfect! How easy!! All I did was take some pots...rolled up some foil, and put it in the contains- to look like there was something in it, and then covered it with foil!! Look!! I'm so excited!! Her fridge is gonna get full some way or another!

And for those of you that are curious....the kittens are settling in!! All 3 are using the litter box......we've only had one accident, so I'd say that is pretty good! The little black one is actually letting us pet him.....and he likes it! He actually head-butted me this afternoon, so I think he approves of his new residence!! I am sure the other 2 will warm up soon, too.

Ok.....until next time:)

Yup! I'm still making candles...

And the ideas are starting to come to me......Do you know how many things I could make?? You can carve things into them, you can make molds for them....and....


You can pour them into neat containers....Like this:

*I also have a teapot I want to try to make a candle out of. But it's one of my favorites minis, and I'm not too sure I want to 'mess it up', ya know! And then there's those really pretty candles with seashells and sand........You see what I mean, this could be quite addicting!!

When I counted them this morning, I had 154....and that's just the ones that have been hand dipped.....My goodness! Looks like I'm been productive, doesn't it!! LOL!! ............I have!

Burn baby, Burn!!!

OK then......Let's talk Candles! See the green one in this picture?? It was made from a metallic Crayola crayon!!

And here is how I made these.........Yes! they are real candles, in miniature though! I just used DMC floss (the stuff you use to cross-stitch) and cut it into a 2 inch piece, then I separated the strings! from this one little piece....you can get 6 wicks. Then the dipping begins. I start by dragging the string through the wax, being careful not to set it on fire. I was using tea-lights to make these, and had to learn to pay attention quick! OK, so dip, and set aside to harden...then dip again...and set aside to harden......and, well, You get the picture, Right?? Look at the numbers in the next picture...it might help. Once you get a little built up on the wick, you can start to shape it...hence #3~ one is long and one is short and round. #4 shows you what it looks like after you've dipped it a lot!! Don't worry about how wonky it looks, once you burn it down, and the wax starts to drip down the sides, it will look like it was meant to be!

See what I mean. I used a crayon called Robin's Egg Blue to make this one...and thought of Nikki and her Robin Eggs the whole time;)

And the bf even got involved. He used an elephant bead....and made a mold out of polymer clay. He's still 'perfecting' his idea, But I think it's pretty freakin awesome for his first try! I'll make a miniaturist out of him yet!!! And no the elephants feet aren't dirty~ He used a glitter crayon to do this one, and all the glitter settled at the bottom.

....and here's my growing collection.....LOL! Red, and Yellow and Pink and Green, Purple and Orange and Blue....I can sing the rainbow......Oh, sorry, but I've been singing this song for the past few days, and it's stuck in my head! OK.....I'll just put it this way........My Mom bought the kids a box of crayons that has over 150 different colors.....and well....they should of hid it from me if they thought they were ever going to use them, Hahaha!!! I know I am a terrible Mom!!

And here are some of the ones that I have burnt down. I dunno, is it me...or did you ever play with candles when you were younger? Did you ever take a bottle and melt wax down the side to see what happened??? Well, I did, and I find it very addicting! The problem is though, with these~ you only get to watch them burn for a minute or you'll end up with no candle! And they're so addicting!! Oh, and you will see some candles with thick wicks, and some with thin. That's because at first I was using the whole 6 stands, until the bf came along and told me it was to thick...so I started using 1 stand instead.....The thicker wick makes for a bigger flame, too.


Well, I can't find my book with all the juicy details.......so I'll have to wing this. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong here. The wax balls are conjure balls. They are used to cast spells, and when I was reading about them the other night, I thought they'd be really cool in miniature. I think that your suppose to through these up on your roof for protection......or you can make black ones for evil spells......I want to wrap these up, but can't seem to find my cellophane, so you'll have to do with a repeat picture to remind you of what I'm taking about. I just dipped a little moss into the wax, and formed a ball out of it. You have to melt the wax first....then let it harden up a little before you start playing with it! And I warn you know~ IT"S VERY MESSY! I've got it on my clothes...the table, a blanket, the carpet....but not Otis, yet, LOL!!

So, until next time......I'm off to play with the kittens....In case you missed it~ I posted a blog this morning updating you on the feral kitties! 3 just moved in the house!! :) Oh My!!

And Today I'm a Candle Maker

One thing I love about miniatures is how one day you can be a book maker, and then the next day you can be a candle maker. I might never get bored again!

I spent the afternoon yesterday, burning tea-lights and hand dipping candles. LOL, I know, I could of found an easier way to do this, however, I have (lol, had...)an abundance of tea lights, so I thought I'd put them to good use. So.....here's the view from my lap, You know my helper is always close by!! I still don't understand how he made it through it with all his whiskers, but he did.....He's just too nosey!!


Any guesses as to what those little balls in the next picture are??? I'll give you a hint....It's rolled up moss in candle wax.........And there is a point to it, but I'm not going to tell you just yet.......I wanna figure out what I did with my book first, don't want to be giving ya'll any wrong information!! LOL So, for now, take a wild guess! :) Oh.....I also borrowed a few of the kids crayons and added some to the wax to get the different colors~ there's dark orange and black in my next batch. More pictures to follow later.....

And for all my Otis fans........ Daddy has lost the war over the his pants, again. Seems Otis stole them from him while he was trying to go the the bathroom.... You'd think Daddy would of learned to close the door by now:) LOL